Mapping Mountains – Trimble Surveys – Worcestershire Beacon

31.12.16  Pinnacle Hill (SO 767 421)    

Pinnacle Hill (SO 767 421) taken on a clear and sunny day

The etherealness of mist is a delight, and especially so when there is a chill in the air.  Its affect is one to close off near surrounds and when coupled with the chill of a winter’s afternoon it forces gloved hands and hatted heads which emphasises the act of enclosure.

This enclosure concentrates the mind on one’s immediate surrounds; the delicate detail and seemingly distant sounds that otherwise may slip by unnoticed.  The last day of 2016 brought these conditions to the Malvern Hills as we headed south from the top of the Wyche Road, firstly on steps that gained access to a grass dewed ridge.

The sun kissed crisp winter’s day full of frost and distant views was not given us, but the enclosure of mist brought a welcome hour of contentful wandering in one’s own immediate world.

The central section of the Malvern Hills has Pinnacle Hill as its highest point, and it was the summit of this hill that we aimed for.  A few happy shadowed figures passed us, some with dogs, and others without, generally their presence was heard before being seen as mist laden voices cast out from the gloom as a foreteller.

Lou on the ascent of Pinnacle Hill

A slight breeze wisped in from the west, accentuating the dewed chill, the Trimble survey seemed periphery to the walk, but as it included a summit I thought it a shame to miss the Trimbling opportunity, and so it was placed, aligned with the highest bit of rock on the summit of Pinnacle Hill, and as Lou wandered around keeping her back functioning and her body relatively warm, I waited patiently for the five minutes of data to be stored.

Gathering data on the summit area of Pinnacle Hill

Once the Trimble was packed away we retraced our steps down the northern ridge and back to the car, it had been good to get out even though we had come back without a view, sometimes one can feel better for it.

Postscript:

Since the survey of this hill full LIDAR coverage is now available.  The LIDAR (Light Detection & Ranging) technique produced highly accurate height and positional data that is now freely available for England and Wales.  Consequently the numerical details for this hill has been analysed using this technique, resulting in the LIDAR height and position for the summit of this hill prioritised over that produced by the Trimble GeoXH 6000.

LIDAR summit image of Pinnacle Hill (SO 767 421)

 

Survey Result:

Pinnacle Hill

Summit Height:  358.2m (LIDAR)

Summit Grid Reference:  SO 76792 42109 (LIDAR)

Col Height:  261.1m (LIDAR)

Col Grid Reference:  SO 76911 43719 (LIDAR)

Drop:  97.1m (LIDAR)

Dominance:  27.11% (LIDAR)

For details on the second summit survey of Pinnacle Hill

For further details please consult the Trimble Survey Spreadsheet